The Tavern Club
by ElyMorgaine
Summary: UP FOR ADOPTION! We've all heard about the infamous 'Tavern' which is often used as an excuse for Merlin's disappearances, but what do the knights actually get up to inside? Different character POVs for each chapter-The Knights and Merlin. The first one is a prologue from Merlin's POV. Loosely inspired by 'The Breakfast Club'.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I've had this idea festering in my brain for around a year now and I'm just happy that I've finally put pen to paper. As a Merlin fan, I've always wondered if they would ever show the infamous 'tavern' which Merlin apparently visits regularly, so I've made my own up and made it a bit more 'fantastical' than your average bar ;). The POVs will change with every chapter and they will be named after the person who's POV it is. Not Beta'd and I use UK spellings and what not (since I'm from there!) Read & review please. :)  
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**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Merlin, the BBC does.  
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**The Tavern Club  
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Merlin could never bring himself to be annoyed with Arthur when he received a scolding about his fake extra-curricular activities in the tavern. He decided a long time ago that he would rather get a scolding from the King for something which is harmless compared to having him find out about his magic.

However, in the more recent years his 'gifts' were not of much use anymore. Camelot hadn't been under a full-fledged attack in years and Merlin possessed something he'd never thought he would acquire whilst serving King Arthur- free time. Not even Gaius needed him as much anymore since there wasn't the usual influx of people needing medical assistance as consequence of the new found peace in the kingdom.

Due to his boredom, he had become accustomed to taking lengthy walks through the woods of Camelot. During these trips his mind often wondered to how others in the kingdom were coping with the lack of responsibility. His thoughts usually frequently drifted to the knights and how they were coping with not having as much 'action' as they did in previous years. He knew that they had to cope with the boredom somehow.

These thoughts were interrupted however, when he spotted Gwaine walking through the forest, following a path that he had regularly seen but never explored. He battled internally with the idea of following the gregarious knight and maybe finally finding out how his friends were coping with the monotony of Camelot. But his curiosity won in the end, strengthened by the fact that he knew Arthur wouldn't expect him back for a while.

After a 20 minute journey travelling on the discreet path and hiding from Gwaine's sudden turns and unsheathing of his sword every time the knight heard a noise, they had arrived at their destination. Merlin was not impressed at all and his theories were thwarted. He spent 20 minutes of his time following Gwaine to an old outhouse which stood alone in a forest clearing. He couldn't believe that the knight came all this way, just to flex his cheeks in the woods! His outrage quickly diffused when he heard a loud bang originating from the shabby pail closet. The noise re-strengthened his resolve and he decided to stay and observe from the bushes for a while to see if Gwaine would reappear. And if he didn't, Merlin was going to go inside and see what made the all the ruckus in the first place, even if he walked in on his friend during an awkward situation.

Fifteen minutes had already passed and Merlin became weary from waiting. He marched towards the outhouse with purpose, mentally preparing himself for what he might see inside the dingy place. When he reached the door, he paused to stop and think about what he was about to do. _Maybe I'm just being too paranoid_, he thought silently. He knew that during the years of war and drama in Camelot he had become war-hardened and had learnt to become suspicious of almost everyone, Morgana had taught him that. He also knew that he couldn't paint everyone else with the same brush as her just because of her betrayal, least of all Gwaine. But even his thoughts couldn't defer his temptation as he turned the handle on the door.

It was empty.

Merlin's thoughts began to race as he stood in the cramped outhouse, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for Gwaine's disappearance. At one point he even channelled Uther and thought that the disappearance was most likely due to sorcery. His rapid thoughts were stopped abruptly upon noticing a strange marking he saw on the lantern hanging from the wall. Upon closer inspection he identified the marking to be word 'enjoy' in a language from the Old Religion. As he sounded the word out, the floor of the outhouse fell through and with a scream, Merlin found himself in what looked like the underground chambers of Camelot

The halls were dark, but there seemed to be torches deliberately left on the sides of the wall for someone to light them to guide the way. He took one of them off the stone slab and whispered, "**_Leohtbora_."**

After he lit a torch, he recognised the unmistakeable sound of laughter as it filled the dusty hallway. As the raucous laughter became louder, he was able to identify the culprit. It was Percival. Merlin edged closer to the bottom of the stairs and turned left to come face to face with a large double door. He moved to try the handle and surprisingly, it wasn't locked and so he continued to push the weighty doors open.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.

It was a tavern, but it wasn't like the ones Arthur took Merlin to after hunting. For one thing, this one was huge. It was the size of the main hall in the Castle and there appeared to be more eccentric pastimes in this tavern than just your usual ale-drinking. A fighting ring occupied the centre of the room and the walls were lined with swords, shields and metal plates of armour. And inhabiting the rest of the space in the vast room was a wooden bar with a rather large rectangle table placed in front of it with the Knights of Camelot sitting around occupying the seats, staring back at the young warlock.

"I was wondering when you would finally catch on Merlin. It's about time you found this place. Now how about you get initiated into 'The Tavern Club' with a couple of pints?" Gwaine asked Merlin with a mischievous smirk.


	2. Gwaine

**A/N: Hi! New chapter is up and it's from the POV of our favourite irish-accented knight..Gwaine! Read and review :)**

**WARNING: I've changed Gwaine's background quite severely in regards to his back story in Merlin canon. Don't let that put you off though! I just wanted his dislike for nobility to be a bit stronger. Un-Beta'd!**

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Gwaine:

To Gwaine the Tavern Club only had started off as just a way to escape the on-going drama at Camelot through the medium of alcohol. He found the secret outhouse around the time when he was caught by Jarl the Slave Trader and to his surprise he discovered it was much more than a toilet.

Since its discovery, he had secretly made visits to the tavern whenever he could escape his knightly duty. Although the tavern was filled to the brim with unlimited supply of ale and swords that never seemed dull, he began to realise the flaw in his vow of secrecy. He needed his friends.

The first couple of times he visited the enchanted bar he was still enamoured with its whimsical charm. However, after the first few months of visiting the magical tavern he realised that he would need his fellow knights with him to fully enjoy his time there.

That was the day he escorted Sir Elyan, Sir Percival and Sir Leon to the pail closet to reveal his greatest secret yet. At first the duo objected to the idea of the all of them occupying an outhouse at the same time, but once Gwaine muttered the word 'enjoy' their protests were brought to a halt. Instead their joyous laughter resonated throughout the halls as well as the clink of their swords. _Now this is a club,_ Gwaine thought with a smile.

As time passed, the objective of the Tavern Club changed dramatically. They weren't so much interested in drinking and fighting anymore, but rather talking. During his time at the club, Gwaine had found out his friend's deepest and darkest secrets and grew a silent respect for his fellow knights. Before the club, he thought of them as his friends, but with Camelot was under threat almost every day, there wasn't any time to **really** get to know them. It was only until the club started when he started to think of them as brothers.

He found out the reason why Percival trains vigorously every day and Elyan's personal insecurities which have arisen out of his knighthood. Although, he hadn't yet seen it fit to inform them of his background.

The group slowly became agitated due to Gwaine's prolonged silence about his personal matters and started to pester him at any given moment to tell them about his life before his knighthood. Gwaine knew that their harassment was mostly because of the fact that they've already revealed their own secrets to him earlier on and they had nothing on him in return. It was understandable.

It wasn't until Sir Leon suggested to play a drinking game and Gwaine lost, when the truth started to pour out of the unreserved knight's mouth.

"Okay you guys. You win, I'll tell you why I've been town hopping all this time."

Just as he began to begin his anecdote, he was interrupted by Percival raising his hand.

"I would rather know why someone of noble birth would want to reject his birth-right and would rather live like a pauper rather than a knight. It seems as if the two events are linked somehow." Percival said with an inquisitive gaze set in the direction of Gwaine.

Gwaine looked at the knight with a sad smile before replying.

"Ah, you're not just made of brawn Percy my boy. You've realised that I wouldn't even be town hopping in the first place if it wasn't directly responsible for me not wanting to be a knight. I was hoping that no one would catch on, but there seems to be no fooling you."

He wiped the froth from the ale off of his lips and began to recite his tale to his friends.

"You see, when I was a young lad my only dream in life was to be a knight like my old man. I started training when I was old enough to hold a sword; it was all I ever wanted to do. "

He took another swig from his tumbler before continuing on with his tale in a lower register.

"I thought that knights were noble men, men of honour and such, but I soon became disillusioned with it all. I was 17 years of age when I saw it, when I saw the thing which kept me running all this time."

He stopped abruptly and his eyes began to gloss over whilst he gazed at a random spot on the tavern's wall._ I can't tell them what happened, they will think that I was a coward, _he thought with a pained look placed on his face.

Elyan, sensing that Gwaine was struggling to continue, turned to him and grasped his shoulder. He then whispered to the brunette, "You know you can tell us Gwaine. You're a Knight of Camelot now. It does not matter what happened before, we are your family now and as family we promise that we will never say a word of what you've told us to anyone outside of these walls. You can trust your brothers."

He stared at Elyan for an unknown amount of time and saw the honestly shining in his eyes before smiling back at him and finding the misplaced courage to continue on with his tale.

"As you all know, my father is Baelon of the east who was head knight for King Caerleon and his duty was to command the knights below him, making sure that they stayed lawful. Well I saw those very knights terrorising a small village on the outskirts of town. And when I say terrorising, I don't mean just mean destroying the land- they destroyed the people."

"I was taken with them on official business as a part of my training, but all the training in the world didn't prepare me for what I saw.

They beat the men to death, took the children as slaves and raped the women. My father's fellow knights did that. The first thing I did after witnessing the event was go back home and tell my father about their behaviour immediately. However, once I informed him of their 'activities' he said to me, 'what a knight does in his spare time is absolutely his own business, just as long as he's done his job'. I argued back of course and told him that I will report their crimes to the king, but it was useless. He was in cahoots with the 'good' king, so nothing could come of my complaint. Even if somehow I could've been heard, the knights would surely want revenge for what I've done."

He took his palms and held them on his face to halt any would-be tears from falling.

"So I ran. I ran away from it all. I didn't want to be associated with my father anymore so I never told anyone who I actually was. He became bankrupt soon after my departure, so he was able to lie about my whereabouts and make it seem as though I left because of money. He died soon after. I couldn't even bring myself to visit his grave."

He took a deep breath as if he was struggling with the thought of his father's death before relaunching into his story.

"Merlin was the first to find out who I was in years. It was him who changed my perspective on it all. He kept talking about how Arthur wasn't the same as the all the other noble-born folk and I saw it for myself, he's not. Meeting him restored my faith in the high-born. And he even managed to make my childhood dream come true without me losing any integrity. I'm a knight, an honourable one at that and I have a group of brothers with the same morals as I. What more could I ask for eh?" Gwaine exclaimed before clinking his goblet against his brother's glasses.

At that all of the men smiled and they had finally felt like they knew the real Gwaine which hid under the bravado.

"You're my family now."


End file.
